Pigs and poultry, especially those which are intensively reared or reared in large-scale operations, have a tendency to suffer from or risk catching a variety of diseases and infections, for example, Mycoplasma diseases in pigs and poultry, Lawsonia infections (ileitis) and swine dysentery in pigs and necrotic enteritis in poultry. Medicaments have been proposed or used for the treatment of individual diseases or infections of these types.
L. intracellularis, the causative agent of porcine proliferative enteropathy (PPE; also called ileitis in swine), affects virtually all animals, including: rabbits, ferrets, hamsters, fox, horses, and other animals as diverse as ostriches and emus. PPE is a common diarrhea disease of growing-finishing and young breeding pigs characterized by hyperplasia and inflammation of the ileum and colon. It often is mild and self-limiting but sometimes causes persistent diarrhea, severe necrotic enteritis, or hemorrhagic enteritis with high mortality.
Necrotic enteritis (NE) in poultry is caused by a gram-positive, anaerobic bacteria Clostridium perfringens. The disease is an acute enterotoxemia condition primarily affecting 2-5 week old broiler chickens and 7-12 week old turkeys. The duration of the illness is very short, and typically the only sign of the disease is a sudden increase in mortality of the birds.
C. perfringens is a nearly ubiquitous bacteria found in soil, dust, feces, feed, and used poultry litter, and is also an inhabitant of the intestines of healthy chickens. The enterotoxemia that causes the necrotic enteritis occurs either following an alteration in the intestinal microflora or from a condition that results in damage to the intestinal mucosa (e.g., coccidiosis, mycotoxicosis, salmonellosis, ascarid larvae). High dietary levels of animal byproducts, wheat, barley, oats, or rye predispose birds to the disease. Anything that promotes excessive bacterial growth and toxin production or slows feed passage rate in the small intestine could promote the occurrence of necrotic enteritis.
Diagnosis of necrotic enteritis is based on gross lesions and a gram-stained smear of a mucosal scraping that exhibits large, gram-positive rods. The gross lesions are primarily found in the small intestine, which may be ballooned, friable, and contain a foul-smelling, brown fluid. The mucosa is usually covered with a tan to yellow pseudomembrane often referred to as a “Turkish towel” appearance. This pseudomembrane may extend throughout the small intestine or be only in a localized area. The disease persists in a flock for 5-10 days, and mortality is 2-50%. Conventional products for preventing necrotic enteritis in poultry are medicated feeds containing virginiamycin (20 g/ton feed), bacitracin (50 g/ton), and lincomycin (2 g/ton). Medicated feeds containing anticoccidial compounds in the ionophore class have also been helpful in preventing necrotic enteritis. Treatment for necrotic enteritis is typically by administering bacitracin, penicillin, and lincomycin in the drinking water for 5-7 days. NE has been identified as a disease condition that may be prevented or controlled by use of Direct-Fed Microbials (DFM) products because they act on the intestinal microflora. Coccidiosis causes considerable economic loss in the poultry industry. The disease is caused by several species of Eimeria including E. tenella, E. necatrix, E. acervulina, E. brunetti, and E. maxima. Stages of coccidiosis in chicken appear both within the host as well as outside. The developmental stages in the chicken give rise to a microscopic egg (called an oocyst) that is passed out in the droppings. Normally, most birds pass small numbers of oocysts in their droppings without ill effects, but intensive rearing of domestic chickens provides conditions which permit the build-up of infective oocysts in the environment thereby increasing the possibility of coccidiosis infections. Coccidiosis infections can become noticeable by the third day of infection. Symptoms include chickens drooping, stopping feeding and huddling together. Blood starts to appear in the droppings by day four and by day eight the chickens are either dead or have started to recover.
Prevention of coccidiosis includes mixing anticoccidial drugs with feed. Ionophores such as salinomycin are the most commonly-used drugs in the US for coccidiosis prevention. Salinomycin and salts thereof are typically added to animal feed at a concentration of about 40 to about 60 grams per ton of animal feed (0.0044% to 0.0066%). Salimomycin sodium is the preferred form of salinomycin used in the United States. Narasin is the most commonly-reported ionophore promoted as an aid in NE prevention. Coccidiosis vaccines (Coccivac®-B) can also be used particularly by those wishing to market antibiotic-free chickens. Coccivac-B is a non-attenuated, live sporulated oocyst coccidiosis vaccine containing E. acervulina, E. mivati, E. maxima and E. tenella. 
A need exists for compositions and methods to treat multiple diseases in animals, particularly diseases of bacterial origin. These compositions should be able to be used in combination with other treatments and/or compositions used for treating other diseases. Optimally the compositions for treatment of diseases would have a synergistic effect when combined either with other compositions or other treatment regimens.